Fortunately for me the cold weather shortened the 30km skate to a 20km....although it took me 12 km to really get going on Saturday and I had a very strong final 8km. I caught on to a Fin who was on his first lap of 10km while I had just lapped through and once I had his tempo I couldn't believe how good I felt. I was caught for 30 seconds by the guy two bibs behind me around the 14 km mark but he appeared content to just sit in the train that was now 5 guys (two more on their first lap came through). At the 15 km mark two of the 5 guys decided to break away and if I had had more confidence in my racing I would and should have gone with them. I told myself to stay with that Fin because I might not feel good in the race for long. However, with just under 2 km to go I realized that I needed to make my own break and I got away and managed to get 16 seconds back from the Norwegian who had caught me for 30 seconds. I finished 43rd overall (there were 120 on the start list), just under 4 minutes off the lead. The winner has had top 10 finishes on the World Cup so all things considered I was happy with the day. The final 8 km of the race I was able to challenge the course and myself and I remembered why I liked racing as I sat down that night exhausted. I finally pushed myself!
Sunday was the 15km classic. Due to the cold weather we were on a modified course and we completed the same 10km lap from the first day and then the final 5km on our second lap. The first 5 km was very flat and all double pole. I went out a bit conservative because I wasn't sure where my energy level was going to be after the 20km the day before. That strategy cost me big time as I gave up 1 minute to the leaders in the first 3 km. However, after that point I skied a very strong strong only losing 1 min 57 sec over the next 12 km. This field had actual a World Cup 15 km winners (Anders Sodergren of Sweden) who was 4th or 5th. Despite the slow start it was the first race this year where I was able to race from the start to the finish. I had great skis that ran quick and held there grip when I was tired. In the end I was closer to the overall lead than the previous day. I scored 82 FIS pts on Saturday and 79 on Sunday.
I know I trained enough this year to race well. I know I am in good shape. After 48 hrs of travel and 5 days of no training and losing my luggage to have strong efforts here in Scandinavia has eased any doubts I had that I had gotten it all wrong. I am more convinced now that I was too cautious coming into the racing season. I should have raced more, recovered better and stressed less. Now that the Olympic trials are behind me I can get back to racing fast and enjoying the process.
I am in Norway for another week and will then travel to Germany to train with Thomas Freimuth and race with him in Lienz, Austria Jan 22 and 24th. I will sprint on the 22nd and do a 25 km skate on the 24th. I have to admit I am looking forward to the distance race as much as the sprint.
Below are pictures and a video from my trip so far. The first ones are of Frode's family farm in Steinkjer, and then of the race site in Asarna, Sweden and our cozy cabin where I stayed with Frode and the teams head wax tech. They moved the race up about 500m in elevation to get the warmer temps and in just one night created a stadium in front of the local church and created two huge parking lots. Very impressive. Also, you will find a video of my recovery training today with Frode.
No comments:
Post a Comment